Solidarity Statement With Students And Faculty Of Ramjas College, Delhi University From Students And Faculty Of OP Jindal Global University

We, the undersigned students and faculty of O.P. Jindal Global University, condemn the recent attacks by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarti Parishad (ABVP) on students and faculty in Delhi University. We deplore the inaction of the Delhi police, who were present during these attacks. We also condemn the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs who, instead of assuring an investigation stated that, “No anti-India slogans will be allowed in the name of freedom of speech.” We wish to express our solidarity with the members of the DU community who are currently standing up for a university campus free from intimidation by ABVP.

The violence occurred on 21st February, the first day of the Ramjas literary society’s and English Department’s two-day seminar ‘Cultures of Protest’. This was an event for which all necessary permissions had been procured, including from the principal. Objecting to one of the participants at this event – JNU student Umar Khalid – ABVP members engaged in acts of vandalism in Ramjas College and also threatened and assaulted those attending the seminar. Khalid had been invited to speak on the war against Adivasis in Bastar, the topic of his PhD thesis. ABVP members engaged in these acts of violence in the name of defending nationalism. The Delhi Police claimed that they were unable to guarantee the safety of the participants in the face of the violence of ABVP. As a result, the college was forced to cancel the rest of the seminar. The following day, ABVP members disrupted a peaceful march by members of the Delhi University community to the Maurice Nagar police station. Once again, ABVP members physically attacked protesters and molested those present, including faculty and members of the media. Some of the protesters were injured and had to be rushed to hospital.

It is our firm opinion that this is part of a systematic endeavour on the part of the ABVP to use accusations of ‘anti-nationalism’ to crush opposition to their world-view. If universities are mired in this atmosphere of intimidation, fear and repression, it will be fatal to intellectual inquiry in our society.

The Delhi Police, through acts of omission and commission, has abetted these reprehensible developments. By refusing to protect the seminar proceedings on 21st February and allowing ABVP members to engage in violence on 22nd February, the police have offered selective protection of the law: in effect protecting the aggressors. The members of ABVP have received and continue to receive impunity from law enforcement agencies. The Delhi Police falls under the Union Home ministry, and it was dismaying to find its minister of state echoing the ABVP rather than prosecuting them. His statement provides grounds for concern that the investigation into the incident will not be fair.

As a university with a substantial presence of students and faculty studying and teaching the law we are disheartened by this complete and blatant disregard for the law by those who are supposed to uphold it.

We condemn in harshest terms the failure on the part of these authorities to protect every citizen, regardless of caste, class, gender and especially political inclination. We demand that law enforcement agencies must immediately take cognizance of the numerous violations committed against those participating in the seminar and the protesters. They must commence legal action against those committing these acts of violence. The Delhi University administration must also take immediate disciplinary action against the aggressors.

As fellow students and teachers, we admire the courage and resilience displayed by the protesters at Delhi University for refusing to succumb to fear and the threat of violence. We are inspired by this example and see that they are standing up, not merely for their own rights to free thought and expression, but for the rights of us all. It is imperative for all of us to come together at this crucial point of lawlessness to stand together in solidarity. It is important to remind ourselves at this time that neutrality and silence always support the oppressor, never the oppressed.